Theories of language learning:

key issues, central topics and

basic approaches

MA. Program of Language education

Wu Heping
Tel: 7972101
Email: wuhp@nwnu.edu.cn
wuhpnet@gmail.com
Course site: http://wuhpnet.googlepages.com/sla
Theories of language learning:
an outline
 Historical background
 Basic concepts
 Key issues
 Approaches
 Current thinking and future trend
 Background
 Disillusionment of the search for the “best language teaching method”

 From practice-oriented to theory-oriented

 2 phases
 To adduce implications for language teaching from the then-current behaviorist
thinking in experimental psychology and American structuralism
 To study the nature of L2 development; independent discipline for its own sake

 The development of the neighouring science.

 Applied linguistics
 Linguistics
 Psycholinguistics
 Cognitive Science
 Error Analysis and Contrastrive Analysis. Etc.
 S. P. Corder: The best teaching method is the one that facilitate, rather
than impede the natural language learning process.
Basic concepts
 Language
 First language, second language,
foreign language
 Language learning and acquisition
The basics of human
language
 Language is systematic and generative.
 Language is a set of arbitrary symbols.
 Those symbols are primarily vocal, but may also
be visual.
 The symbols have conventionalized meanings to
which they refer.
 Language is used for communication.
 Language operates in a speech community or
culture.
 Language is essentially human, although
possibly not limited to humans.
 Language is acquired by all people in much the
same way---language and language learning both
have universal characteristics.
Language: what needs to be
learnt by language acquirers?
An easy answer: a second language learner
needs to learn the ‘grammar’ of the target
language.

grammar=form+function

The form and function of a linguistic structure is

usually acquired unconsciously in first
language acquisition.
Basic concepts of language
learning
 L1, L2 and FL
 Learning and acquisition
 Competence and performance
L1 and L2
 L1  L2
 The L1 terms are used  The concept of L2 (non-
to indicate that a native language, second
person has acquired the language, foreign
languages in infancy
and early childhood and language)implies the prior
generally within the availability to the individual
family. of an L1, in other words
 Besides, the L1 terms some form of bilingualism.
signal a characteristic
level of proficiency in  The L2 terms may indicate
the language. They
suggest an intuitive, a lower level of proficiency
native-like, full or in the language in
perfect command of the comparison with the
language. primary language.
Discussion: what other
differences can you see between
L1 and L2
L1 acquisition L2 acquisition
Goal
Success
Variation
Error
correction
Affective
factor
Others
Input
L2 and FL
L2

 non-native language learnt
and used within the speech
community where the
language is used.
 Since the second language
is frequently the official
language or one of two or
more recognized
languages, it is needed for
full participation in the
political and economic life
of the nation.
 FL
 Non-native language learnt
and used outside the
speech community where
the language is used.
 Foreign language learning
is often undertaken with a
variety of different
purposes in mind. i.e. travel
abroad, communication
with native speaker, reading
of a foreign language, pass
an examination, find a
decent job, etc.
Classroom Discussion
 To become aware of the complexity of
the interaction of different factors
involved in different types of non-native
language, please compare the following
five acquisitional settings and try to find
factors that that are different from
these settings.
learning, acquisition
 learning vs. acquisition
 The term of acquisition in preferred by
some theorists because they believe
that the process of language
acquisition was viewed as a biological
process of growth and maturation rather
than is one of social learning through
experience, environmental influence or
deliberate teaching.
Learning vs.
acquisition
 Krashen uses the term acquisition to
describe second language learning which
is analogous to the way in which a
child acquires his first language, that
is ‘naturally’, without focus on
linguistic form, and ‘learning’ as
conscious language development
particularly in formal school-like
settings.
Competence vs. performance
 Competence consists of the mental representation of
linguistic rules which constitute the speaker-hearer’s
internalized grammar.
 Performance consists of the comprehension and
production of language.
 Language acquisition studies are interested in how
competence is developed. However, because the rules
the learner has internalized are not open to direct
inspection, it has been necessary to examine how the
learner permforms, mainly in production.
 One of the major problems of SLA research has been precisely to what
extent competence is inferred from performance.
Key issues in language
learning theories
 Language, First language , second language &
foreign language
 Learning vs. acquisition
 Competence vs. performance
 The role of first language
 The role of input
 The role of formal instruction
 Factors involved in language learning
The role of first language
 Between the post-war years and 1960s, there was a
strong assumption that most of the difficulties facing
the L2 learner were imposed by his or her first
language. i.e. Difference=difficulties. Llarge proportion
of grammatical errors could not be explained by L1
interference. As a result of such studies, the role of the
L1 becomes one of the key issues in SLA studies.
 This hypothesis was put under challenge in the late
1960s. A role of the L1 was played down.
 L1 may contribute to learning in entirely different
ways. Tranfer is then positively perceived as a learning
strategy.
The role of input
 The input constitutes the language to which the learner
is exposed. It serves as the data which the learner
must use to determine the rules of the target
languages.
 Early theories of SLA, based on the behaviourist notion
of of habit formation through practice and
reinforcement, emphasized the importance of the input.
The whole process of learning could be controlled by
presenting the L2 in the right-sized doses and ensuring
that the learner continued to practise until each feature
is overlearned. Learning L2 was just like any other kind
of learning via building stimulus-response links.
Behaviorist Account of Learning

Positive
Reinforcement

Input Response

Negative
Reinforcement
The role of input (II)
 This view of learning was challenged in the
1960, notably by Chomsky. As mentalist view
of language learning emphasized what he
called the learner’s he observed that the was
no match between the learner’s input and
output. Chomsky’s ‘langauge acquisition
devide’ and played down the role of the
linguistic input, which is merely a trigger to
activate the device.
 Example: input: went-----output goed.
Mentalist Account of Language
Learning

Input
(Language Data)

Output
Language (Language Produced
Acquistion by the Learner.
Device (LAD)
The role of input (III)
 The input that the learners are exposed to is
not adequate for them to make
generalizations in the target language.
 Krashen’s comprehensible input: language
learning takes place if the learners are
provided with the input that they can
understand.
 Now it is assumed that it is not so much
‘input’ as interaction that is important.
The role of formal instruction
 It is now believed that formal
instruction can not greatly change the
route of language development, but it
does change the rate of language
acquisition.
Approaches to SLA
 Linguistic approach
 Functional-typological approach
 Information processing (cognitive)
approach
 Socio-cultural approach
Linguistic approach
 Investigating the relationship between
the general principles of linguistic
structure and language acquisition.
 The basic assumption is the language is
acquired in the way that it is
represented in the mind of human
beings.
(1) a. * John likes not Mary.
b. Jean (n’)aime pas Marie.
John does not like Mary.
(2) a. * Likes she John?
b. Aime -t-elle Jean?
Does she like John?
(3) a. * John watches often television.
b. Jean regarde souvent la
television.
c. Mary often watches television.
d. * Marie souvent regurde
television.
(4) a. * My friends like all Mary.
b. Mes amis uiment tous Marie.
c. My friends all like Mary.
d. * Mes amis tous uiment Marie.
The functional-typographical
framework
 Linguistic research within this tradition
seeks universal empirical
generalizations about the structure of
human language. Explanations of these
generalizations are then sought in
functional and ormal features of the
elements involved.
 Noun Phrase Accessibility
Hierarchy (NPAH)

 Subject > Direct Object > Indirect Object > Object of

a Preposition >Genitive > Object of a Comparative
 The NPAH is the basis for a number of empirical
generalizations about the languages of the world,

Within relative clauses, if a language can extract a

noun phrase in a given grammatical function in the
hierarchy, then it can extract a noun phrase in any
grammatical function higher in the hierarchy (though
not necessarily conversely).
Information-processing
(cognitive) approach
 Under this approach, SLA is viewed as
the development of a highly complex
skill-like attainment of other,
nonlinguistic skills, such as playing
chess or mathmatical problem solving.
 What implications does this approach
have on our understanding of language
acquisition?
Variationist (socio-cultural)
approach
 Under this approach, thevariability of structural
features in speech production is studied with the
purpose of determining the linguistic,
psycholinguistic, social psychological and
psychological basis for that variability.
 This general approach was developed in the 1960s
primarily by William Labov for the main purpose of
investigating correlations between quantitative
properties of the speech of individuals on one hand
and a number of other variables on the other.
Current issues in SLA
 What cognitive structures and abilities underlie the
L2 learner’s use of his or her L2?
 What properties of the linguistic input to the L2
learner are relevant to acquisition?
 What is the nature of the L2 learner’s capacity for
attaining the cognitive structure and abilities?
 What’s the nature of the L2 learner’s overall capacity for
language acquisition?
 How is that capacity deployed in real time to determine the
course of SLA?
 How are the L2 user’s two (or more) languages represented
in the brain?
 What changes in brain structure, if any, underlie changes in
the capacity for language acquisition across the life span of
the individual?
Assignment for this session
 The introduction chapters in Ellis (1984,
1995); Larsen-Freeman & Long (2000);
Gass and Selinker (2001)
 Further reading:
 William C. Ritchie and Tej K. Bhatia “Second Language
Acquisition: Introduction, Foundations and overview”, in
Ritchie and Bhatia (eds), 1996, Handbook of Second
Language Acquisition. San Diego: Academic Press.